African press review 29 May 2017
Thousands of "retired" Kenyan teachers cry for Presidential help "before they die without their pensions", while Nigeria marks two years of Buhari rule with mixed feelings about his record on coruption.
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We begin with Nigeria' Punch, which reports that Osinbajo reportedly spoke his mind in a national broadcast to commemorate Democracy Day and the second anniversary of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s election.
According to the paper, he expressed the government's determination to find funds appropriated to build roads, railway lines, and power plants, and to equip the military, which had been stolen or diverted into private pockets, and to bring the culprits to justice.
The Nation also leads with Osinbajo's Democracy Day address. It takes note of his admission that corruption had fought back with tremendous resources and that "Nigeria's system of administration of justice had been quite slow".
According to the Sun, while the country celebrates exactly 18 years unbroken run of constitutional government in Nigeria this Monday, Buhari himself has come to epitomize the worst variant of corruption: nepotism.
The paper however credits the Buhari administration for introducing the whistleblower policy.
Meanwhile, Premium Times publishes the findings of research showing that 57 per cent of Nigerians credit President Muhammadu Buhari for doing well since coming to office.
According to the paper, the report, released by the Centre for Democracy and Development dubbed “Buharimeter Citizens’ Scorecard credits Buhari on the three broad campaign promises of corruption, the economy and security in the first two years in office.
In South Africa, the papers offer the first hint of what they claim is a near deal by the top brass of the ruling ANC party on a mechanism to ease President Jacob Zuma from office.
BusinessDay reports that the plans examined by the National Executive Committee of the ANC include a proposal for Zuma to step down as state president after the party’s elective conference in December and the reinstatement of Pravin Gordhan as finance minister.
Meanwhile, Times Live reports that a defiant President Jacob Zuma survived a bid by some members of the African National Congres' leadership to order his removal from office, citing its source as three members of the ruling party’s national executive committee who asked not to be identified.
The paper reports that the ANC's top body decided on Sunday not to vote on a no-confidence motion in the president, according to the party officials.
Times says pressure had built on Zuma to quit following his March 31 decision to fire Pravin Gordhan as finance minister in a cabinet reshuffle, a move that sparked public protests and cost the country its investment-grade credit rating.
And in Kenya, the media is highlighting an appeal to President Kenyatta from more than 50,000 retired teachers "not to let them die before receiving decades of salary arrears and pensions.
Standard Digital reports that the petitioners, retired between 1997 and 2006 are claiming entitlements dating back to more than 20 years.
According to the paper, last year, Kenya's Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich said that up to 21,000 of the retired teachers would not get their share of a €140 million pension arrears package allocated by the state because their names could not be found in the registers.
Standard says some 31,000 of the teachers who were awarded €360 million by the High Court after court battles lasting 18 years are still waiting to be paid, despite the alleged budgeting of the funds in the 2016-17 financial bill.
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